These Are The Beast Of Times

The 76th annual Blessing of the Animals is scheduled to take place in the historic plaza adjacent to Olvera Street tomorrow from noon to 5 p.m. (the actual procession and blessing begins around 2 p.m.).

This will be the third time our Russian tortoise Buster (pictured above from last year’s event) endures the indignity of being colorfully decorated and lines up with all manner of featured creature to get doused with holy H2O by Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is seriously righteous with the official archdiocese water flinger-thingy. And the few drops that inevitably land all over my protestantness, well… it doesn’t burn too badly. And besides, after the parade there’s the tradition of grabbing a table at the nearby El Paseo Inn for nachos and margaritas to help take any residual sting away.

4 Replies to “These Are The Beast Of Times”

Will,
I’d like to take my cat (in a little carrier of course). As someone who has gone before, would you say it gonna be too stressful (noise etc.) for her? Would you advise against taking a cat, or say go for it?

I’ve definitely seen plenty of cats in carriers at the past blessings I’ve attended. As to whether you should do it, you’re the best judge of how the cat deals with unfamiliar environments. A decent gauge might be to consider how your cat may have handled any visits to a crowded vet’s office in the carrier. If she’s pretty mellow in that situation chances are she’d be able to handle tomorrow.

The only other drawback I can see is if you have to park a distance that requires you to hike your cat in. That might be more stressful to her than the actual amount of time spent standing around waiting for the procession to begin. My recommondation would be to park either in the Union Station parking lot or in the Main Street lot just south of Cesar Chavez.

I used to go to my home parishes blessing of the animals as a kid all the time, even when I didn’t have a pet. My dad would play guitar with the Spanish-language choir while the people processed and then there was an Easter Egg hunt for the kids.